The patrols will begin tonight and last through New Year’s Day, said Sgt. Steven Dearth. The patrols are funded by a $6,000 grant from the state Executive Office of Public Safety and Security. Hingham is one of 192 police agencies participating in the national “Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over” campaign.

“These grant funds will be used to assign officers whose sole purpose is to proactively identify and arrest all drunk drivers,” Dearth said. “They will be concentrating their efforts during peak times and on streets where frequent drunk driving arrests or drunk driving crashes have been occurring in Hingham.”

Dearth said arrests for drunken driving have increased slightly this year, to 78 through Tuesday from 73 over the same period last year. Calls to the department to report possible drunken drivers have had a similar increase, he said.